The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has welcomed the introduction of the Religious Discrimination Bill, which will provide basic human rights protections for Australians of all faiths and none to express their beliefs.

Archbishop Peter A Comensoli, chair of the Bishops Commission for Life, Family and Public Engagement, has commended the bill, saying it offers “a positive expression of religious freedom” that will be “an important progression towards parity with other anti-discrimination laws in Australia”.

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Next week’s International Day of People with Disability is a chance for Catholic communities to celebrate the lives, achievements and contributions of 4.4 million Australians with a disability, Bishop Don Sproxton has said.

The international commemoration is held each year on December 3. Bishop Sproxton, the Bishop Delegate for Disability Issues, has written a message for the day that urges parishes to be a hospitable place for all.

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Australia’s Catholic bishops, on the recommendation of their key Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander advisers, have endorsed the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference made the decision as it gathered online for its biannual meeting earlier this month.

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Catholics in Australia are encouraged to join their prayers to those in Myanmar (CNS photo/Athit Perawongmetha, Reuters)

Catholics in Australia have been encouraged to join with other Christians in committing time on November 28 to pray for peace in Myanmar, where unrest and violence have been prominent since February.

Pax Christi International, a Christian peace movement, is organising the day with support and guidance from members of the Burmese community in Australia.

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Pope Francis has appointed Sydney priest Fr Danny Meagher, the former rector of Good Shepherd Seminary, an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Sydney.

Fr Meagher was born in West Wyalong in the New South Wales Riverina region, and moved with his family to Sydney as a young boy. He attended St Ignatius’ College Riverview, then studied economics and later law at Sydney University.

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The local consultation phase for the 2023 Synod of Bishops has been extended in Australia by more than two months, following the Vatican’s decision to allow more time for dioceses to hear from their people.

The Holy See announced in late October that the original request for national syntheses of diocesan consultations to be sent to Rome by April 2022 had been changed, with them now due by August 15, 2022.

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Adelaide’s Madeline Forde has been appointed to the international youth advisory body established by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life.

Ms Forde has experience in a variety of settings, including Marist and Lasallian youth ministries, school and young adults ministry, and walking alongside First Nations people. She is currently the pastoral associate (students) at Australian Catholic University’s Blacktown campus.

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Celebrations to mark the 25th anniversary of the National Centre for Pastoral Research continue this week with Bathurst Bishop Michael McKenna to deliver a free online lecture on Wednesday evening.

The National Centre for Pastoral Research (NCPR), established in 1996 when Bishop McKenna was a priest serving as general secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, is believed to be the only such office in the world.

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The Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development has launched the enrolment phase of the Laudato Si’ Action Platform, inviting Catholic groups to commit to a sustainable future.

The Laudato Si’ Action Platform is a Vatican-led initiative, in collaboration with several partners. It empowers the universal Church to pursue and achieve total sustainability in the holistic spirit of integral ecology.

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Pope Francis has this evening announced that Society of the Divine Word priest Fr Tim Norton will become an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Brisbane.

Fr Norton, who is currently in ministry in Italy, will early next year join Auxiliary Bishop Ken Howell in supporting Archbishop Mark Coleridge in serving the Catholics of Brisbane Archdiocese.

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